Week 5 Lesson Review

I know I'm getting a late start on this, but that's what happens when you "fall through the cracks."

The first section is my weekly reflection on a videotaped lesson. The lesson I had recorded was my 6th grade choir on Thursday morning. Now, let me just say it's hard to watch myself on video. I don't know why, but I just don't enjoy watching myself on tape even though I enjoy performing and am comfortable in front of cameras. Go figure. In watching the video, however, I am able to pick up on some positives I saw in my teaching and of course some negatives. First the positives!

One thing Mr. Suzelis mentioned to me in our discussions is that it seemed I wasn't looking up from the piano as much as he would've liked when I was doing vocal warm-ups. Most of it was due to my piano playing abilities not being as strong as I want them to be, so I was looking down pretty frequently to make sure my hands were where they are supposed to be when I was playing the warm-up. My hands when playing can be like a train...if one plays the wrong note, it derails all the rest and suddenly I'm playing a bunch of wrong notes and the choir is giving me a confused look and quickly losing sound. After we discussed this, I tried to be more aware of the choir and focus less on what my hands were doing on the keys. While I couldn't look up 100% of the time, I was able to look up not only more frequently, but for longer periods of time. This allows me to not only become more confident in my piano playing abilities, but also to model the correct mouth formation for the group and above all make sure they are participating. I felt during the rest of class I was looking up more and trying to be conscious of what was going on in the classroom.

On the negative side, my classroom management is still not where I'd like it to be. Too often I either don't see a certain misbehavior or I let it slide. Part of it is my higher tolerance for sound, but another part of it is simply not being experienced in knowing what to look for. As I've discussed this with Mr. Suzelis, he has given me things to look for and suggestions on how to deal with it. I have noticed some improvement, but still have a ways to go. Another thing that would help would be becoming more familiar with the students' names. I know several, but not enough to call someone by name to limit or even prevent a possible disruption when I see it.